At the present time, there are numerous machines powered by small gasoline engines, for example lawn mowers, chainsaws, garden cultivators, snow blowers, etc. Typically, the engines of such machines are provided with a small gas tank of reasonable capacity which will give a few hours' running time. In order to fill up the gasoline or fuel supply tank of the machine, the user usually has a separate container or can, which can be readily carried by hand, and which contains a reasonable supply of fuel, e.g. of the order of five or ten liters. Then, the user need only visit a gasoline or fuel supply station at reasonably spaced intervals to fill up the gasoline holding container or can.
Now, a problem arises in transferring fuel from the gasoline supply container to the fuel tank of the machine. The fuel tank of the machine is usually of relatively small capacity, and often has a relatively small filling port. Further, in the case of some machines, access to the filling port is at least partially obstructed by other parts of the machine. To overcome this, many commercially available fuel containers are provided with a spout, which often includes some sort of a filter to filter at least coarser contaminants from the fuel before it is supplied to the machine. In a common arrangement, a nozzle is held on by a threaded collar engaging a threaded neck of the fuel holding container. In use, the user has to first unscrew this collar to remove some sort of sealing or closure disc, and the collar and nozzle are then reattached to the container. The nozzle of the container is then inserted into the gasoline tank and fuel transferred from the fuel can or container to the fuel tank of the machine. When the operation is complete, again the nozzle and collar have to be removed and the closure or sealing disc replaced, following which the collar and nozzle are reattached to securely close the fuel holding container. It is also here noted that fuel containers usually include a separate vent opening which has to be opened and closed before and after use. It is necessary to go through this procedure, since gasoline fuel is highly volatile, and thus the container must be securely closed to prevent evaporation of the fuel.
A further difficulty arises due to the small ports of machine fuel tanks and their often awkward placement. Particularly when the fuel container is full, it can be impossible for the user to insert the nozzle of the fuel container into the fuel tank, before fuel starts to flow out of the nozzle. As such, the user has to judge the flow from the nozzle and aim it into the small inlet port of the fuel tank. Frequently, this results in spillage of fuel, which in many circumstances can be extremely hazardous and dangerous.
Proposals have been made for overcoming these problems. Thus, there are available replacement spouts for fuel containers or cans, which include an integral valve. Examples of products available in Canada are a non-spill gas can spout marketed by Perfection Automatic Products of Windsor, Ontario, Canada and a "safe-spill, no-spill" safety spout marketed by Scepter of Toronto, Canada. Both of these gas can spouts provide a valve in the spout itself remote from the sealing surface between the spout and the neck of the container. As a consequence, separate sealing surfaces and sealing gaskets or washers have to be provided for the seal between the nozzle and container neck and the seal between the parts of the valve.
Further, in neither of these products is the nozzle capable of disassembly. Thus, if the nozzle becomes clogged, it is difficult to clear it. Also, replacement of the sealing member of the valve is virtually impossible. A further consequence of this is that the whole nozzle assembly has to be small enough to be inserted through the collar that attaches to the neck of the fuel container, thereby restricting the size of the nozzle, if the nozzle is to be interchangeable between the collars of different containers. It is highly desirable that the nozzle should be interchangeable between different collars, since there is no standard collar size or thread.